Meeting between M. Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and Mgr Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See Vatican City (11 July 2025)

Two months after Pope Leo XIV’s election, the Minister expressed a fraternal message and the wish for this new pontificate to bring peace, solidarity and hope.
The Minister and Mgr Gallagher had in-depth discussions about conflict situations, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East. The Minister welcomed the approach adopted by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State to encourage dialogue between communities, necessary for preventing conflicts and encouraging lasting peace processes.

The Minister recalled that France is committed to protecting the rights, schools and heritage of the Eastern Christians so that the region may find stability, peace and security through greater pluralism.

The Minister and his counterpart welcomed the excellent relationship between France and the Holy See, recently marked by Pope Francis’ third visit to France on 15 December 2024 and the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Poincarré-Ceretti agreement in January.

The Minister also congratulated Mgr Gallagher for organizing the Jubilee of Hope, to which France contributes actively through the actions of its embassy to the Holy See, the Conference of French Bishops and the Pious Establishments of France in Rome.